Faucet mounted water filters are well known in the art. Illustrative are the filter assemblies disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,525,214; 4,172,796; 5,527,451; 4,686,037; 4,770,768; 3,853,761 and RE35,667.
The noted prior art filter assemblies do, however, have numerous drawbacks. The filter assemblies are typically complicated in construction, require numerous parts, and are, consequently, expensive to produce.
Further, many of the filter assemblies do not include an end-of-use indicator or any other means of determining the status of the filter element during use. As a result, filters may be employed beyond their useful life and may, in some instances, expose the user to undesirable contaminates.
The means employed in the remaining prior art assemblies to determine the status of the filter element (i.e., useful life) are generally complex gearing mechanisms or exteriorly located "color indicators", which exhibit the degree of filter element usage as a function of color change(s). The color indicators are thus dependent on a respective consumer's visual acuity. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,686,037 and 5,527,451.
An additional drawback of the prior art filter assemblies is that the valve unit is generally complicated in construction and, hence, difficult to manufacture and mount in the assembly. Further, the operation of the valve unit is not reliable and tap water typically leaks from the valve unit when purified water is being obtained. The valve unit also becomes unserviceable in a relatively short period of time due to wear of the valve element disposed therein.
Equally important, many of the prior art filter assemblies have filter elements that do not filter the water adequately and, moreover, require the entire water filter assembly to be disconnected from the water faucet in order to replace the filter element.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved faucet mounted water filter which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages and otherwise undesirable features.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a water filter cartridge assembly that is readily replaceable as a unitary structure, economical and discardable as a unitary structure when expended.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a faucet mounted water filter having simple, yet efficient engagement/release means, which cooperates with the replaceable cartridge assembly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a faucet mounted water filter having an efficient, reliable dual mode (i.e., time and volume) end-of-use indicator.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved water filter that is inexpensive to manufacture, requiring less labor intensive techniques, less material, and easy to assemble.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a faucet mounted water filter that is aesthetically pleasing when installed in a home or a commercial environment.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings.